Method:

In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, garlic, curry powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the sugar. Add the chicken meat to coat.

In a small skillet, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of the water and cook over high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook without stirring until a deep amber caramel forms. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the lemongrass, shallot, and chilies and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chicken and caramel and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened. Transfer to a bowl and top with the scallion. Serve with steamed white rice.

I’ts a real pity that I don’t live where you are. I’d invite myself over everyday when you need to clear your fridge! Love your Lemongrass chicken, and your prawn balls with the wanton skin strips is a BLAST!Is there a lucky guy in particular that gets to savour all your Yummy stuff?

that sounds absoulety delicious. something for the weekendi als overy much love how you created the 4 photo slide. any chance you could share the secret tool? i am obviously totally at the other extreme to tech savy :)

Wow they just look superb.When i saw the pic i thought u deepfried the chicken but it is the caramel which gives it suce a nice colour.I am for sure going to try this recipe.I don’t like the fish sauce can i omit that.

I made this a few nights ago and it was absolutely delicious! I grated in some fresh ginger too. Mine didn’t turn out such a beautiful caramel colour, but it became an instant fave for me and I’ll be making it often – thank you!

I’m Vietnamese, and I have to say this looks very similar to the way my family makes this dish-I’ll have to try it soon! We deal with lemongrass a lot, and though I don’t particularly like the flavor, it’s a great addition to marinating meats and to recipes like this :) And you can find lemongrass in just about any asian market (I fortunately live near more than five of them), so the ingredients are really easy to get as well.

i hv tried your recipe, and it works really well!! the lemongrass aroma is everywhere in my little apartment and my 2 boys just keep on asking me, “mama, wat is that smell? it sound so delicious!” Oh! Man….Thanks alot, u make up my day:)

‘Recipe pretty much looks right on. The only thing that normally isn’t used is the curry powder =)’

I agree with the comment above. There is another dish, which people use fresh Turmeric, it calls ‘Ga xao xa nghe’, which translates as ‘Stir-fried chicken with lemon grass and Turmeric’ in that case people use Turmeric instead of Caramel sauce to give the dish a yellow colour.The combination of the two herbs gives the dish a different taste. Added crush unsalt peanuts for garnishing to both dishes you’ll get the perfect taste. Anyway, I really enjoy your blog and have tried many other recipes, thank for sharing. Happy cooking. :-)

Hi I am thinking of making this delicious recipe. Is it ok to use meat curry powder like Baba’s brand? And how long does it take for the caramel sauce to turn amber in colour? Cos I read that boiling it for too long even just less than a minute can result in a bitter taste. Thanks if you can reply asap.

I am lucky enough to be half Vietnamese and half Mexican. A product of the US going to Vietnam. lucky for me i didnt get left like some kids did. (i have a half brother and a half sister that were killed because they had the same american father i did.) i loved this dish. in fact my mom would make it for me once a week, and when i moved out she would try to bribe me to come over with this dish and brasied pork belly and egg. my wife has had my mothers chicken with lemon grass and when i cooked it for the second time over the memorial day weekend she confessed she liked mine more. (dont tell my mother) i was suprised at how much it looked like your picture. thanks for the basic recipe.

hi, i read your post and i was amazed this may be way off topic but WOW half Vietnamese half Mexican thats got to be a good mix!! im half Vietnamese half English ,my mother was English and ba was viet which was not around long but lucky for me mom learnt a few things braised pork belly and egg love it and ginger chicken pigs feet soup pho etc alot of great dishes Vietnamese have but im sure theres more out there that mom dont know about so i was curious to know if u have any other recipes that u wouldnt see in restaurants and that but more there home style cooking recipes that u may want to infrom me on so i can try i would appreciate alot please
thank you Khesanh :D

hi…I’m from India,Hyderabad.
The fish sauce used in this recipe isn’t available here as far as i know,so is there any other sauce i could use in place of the fish sauce which will give me the same flavour??
Please advice.
Thank you :)

Hi Ms Low Bee Yinn
I cooked this for dinner tonight and both my hubby and daughter like it. It tastes a bit like the Malacca version of what is known as satay chicken. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.

Wow. This was Google’s first suggestion for “lemongrass chicken”.. it was easy, delicious and I learned some new techniques! Thanks for posting, I shared it on Facebook where I’m sure all of my foodie friends will learn to love it as well!

Looks really delicious. It’s 2011 and I’m really surprised that a vendor don’t know what fish sauce is. Just go to a thia store and ask for “nam plah”. However, I tried this recipe and it turned out really delicious:).

I tried this recipe today. “Excellent”was my husband’s comments and he is a pretty harsh critic when it comes to food, especially Asian cuisine. …. On another note, definently adhere to the 3 chili(s), I used double, ( 3 red, 3 green) and it was almost too spicy for my husband, other then that, it has a great flavor( spicy, and yet sweet)
a nice even blend! ……….

Hi…I tried this recipe once before and enjoyed it! So, I came back to find the recipe again but, I’m having a really hard time finding the actual recipe here. All I see now are the 80 comments and no recipe :( Please help!

I love lemongrass in many dishes, it really brings out a very nice and light fragrent to any dishes. I added chopped ginger to this and I carmalized with splenda with olive oil,once carmalization was completed I added my fresh ginger and lemongrass mixture. After the fresh spices was dry *looking* i threw in the marinated chicken and stir fried on high until the there wasn’t any oils/carmel left in the pan. I never thought about adding curry, tried it with curry…LOVED IT!!! Thanks!! Coming from a Halfie(Vietnamese/French)

I cooked this recipe of yours tonight. Turned out well but unfortunately it’s not as Caramelized and brown as yours and I’m not sure why? The curry powder you think? I used baba meat curry powder. It tasted great but I pound the lemongrass into a paste next time instead as there was a crunch to the lemongrass. Could be my lemongrass tho?

Thanks for sharing this great recipe. Photo looks amazing!
I would like to try to use lemongrass, but I am not a big fan of fish sauce. Can I just eliminate it or there are substitute for it?
Thank you!

Hi, I really love your website! I really want to make this dish but I only have dried lemongrass and minced lemongrass in a tube at my house and I don’t have access to an Asian market. Is it possible to use dried lemongrass or the minced lemongrass that comes in a tube? Is so, roughly how much would I use?

Thank you very much!

Everything I have made from your website is soo good! I also am very tempted to by your book from Amazon!

I made this very tasty meal and simply enjoyed EVERY bite of it. I only used 1 chilli however as I didn’t feel confident about using 3. The result, for me, was terrific. I’m going to cook this for friends who are coming for dinner at the weekend. Thank you.

Hi Rasa! Just cooked this recipe today and it’s stunning. But I have one question: My meal looks nearly as yours in the picture above, but I didn’t taste the lemongrass at all! Maybe I’m not used to the taste, because I used it the first time ever, but I thought the hint of it would be stronger. I chopped it in small little pieces with my kitchenknive and put it in with the shallot and the chilies like you iinstructed in your recipe. Did I do anything wrong?

Hi Pauly, did you use fresh lemongrass? Did you use the bottom part? Some lemongrass loses its fragrance if they are not fresh…use the flat side of the knife to “pound” the white stem to release the aroma. :)